Uniform Bag For Safely Carrying, Cleaning and Sanitizing Soiled or Otherwise Contaminated Uniforms

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates broadly to cleaning soiled and possibly contaminated uniforms, for students, professionals such as health care professionals, military, etc. More particularly, the invention relates to a uniform bag adapted to safely carry, clean and sanitize soiled or otherwise contaminated uniforms, such as scrubs.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application derives the benefit of the priority under 35 USC § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/995,153, filed Jan. 16, 2020, the contents of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

The present invention relates broadly to cleaning soiled and possibly pathogen-contaminated uniforms, for students, professionals, such as health care professionals, military, etc. More particularly, the invention relates to a uniform bag adapted to safely carry, maintain separate, and operate as a washable container to clean and sanitize soiled or otherwise pathogen-contaminated uniforms, such as student athletic uniforms, service worker uniforms, hospital scrubs, etc., without limitation.

Many occupations require persons employed therein to wear uniforms, such as military, police, service workers like repair persons, or telephone persons, sanitation workers, beauticians' veterinary workers, dentistry and in particular, medical personnel. Most of these persons carry their uniform to the place or employment, change from their street clothes into their uniform, do their shift and change back again. Many times if the facility is equipped, persons not only change, but shower first. And also typically, the persons, now cleaned and dressed again in their clean clothes, have to transport home, store while waiting to be washed with other household laundry, and wash ready it for its next use, e.g., the next' day's shift. With no proper manor or way of transporting uniforms there is a great chance of cross contamination from soiled uniforms onto personal items, i.e., handbags, purses, car seats, and potentially any surface that the uniform contacts while being transported.

Thus, there is a great risk of bringing these harmful pathogens and bacteria's home to our families. And in these challenging times with the Covid-19 pandemic prevalent people are encouraged to be careful and mindful for cross contamination thus transporting uniforms and scrubs from the workplace properly is especially important in preventing the spread of Covid-19 and similar diseases that are readily spread. Accordingly, if the person wore the uniform in a setting where the person is exposed to airborne or fluid-borne pathogens, such as MRSA or Covid-19, the uniform remains infected even as the wearer has changed clothes and showered. Just carrying the possibly infected and soiled clothing raises a risk that the person carrying it can be infected.

For that matter, not all professionals who wear uniforms to perform their respective jobs wear street clothes to the job where they change into their uniforms. Some uniform-wearing professionals wear their uniforms as street clothes. For example, keeping professional uniforms such as scrubs clean in a hospital environment can be difficult when they double as your street clothes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a uniform bag for carrying, maintaining separate, and cleaning and sanitizing soiled uniforms therein (“inventive uniform bag”) that overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art. Please note that the inventive uniform bag is to be marketed and sold in association with a trademark Uni-bag (i.e., Uni-Bag™ uniform bags).

The inventive uniform bag keeps sterile clothes and street clothes separate and clean from soiled clothing and uniforms, including soiled clothing and uniforms that could be contaminated with pathogens that could infect persons in contact with infectious diseases, such as MRSA and Covid-19.

In a preferred embodiment, the inventive uniform bag has a main compartment, body or pouch, and one, separate zippered compartment, accessible from the bag's outer surface. The uniform bag has a separate zippered compartment for shoes or other accessories. Preferably, the inventive uniform bag includes and cooperates with three (3) “easy wash” clothing bags for organization and one (1) “easy wash” shoe bag.

During intended operation, the user simply places his/her clean clothes and clean uniforms into one or more of the easy wash clothing bag. Thus, the clean clothes/uniforms in the easy wash bags are inserted into the main compartment and maintained separately. The main compartment is closed (cinched). The clean clothes and uniforms may then be removed from the main compartment and easy wash bags, and donned at the user's destination. Also, the user may place his/her work shoes into an “easy wash” shoe bag. Like the easy wash clothing bag, the easy wash shoe bag is inserted into the main compartment or pouch, closed. In this way, the inventive uniform bag keeps your uniform (i.e., scrubs) separate and clean on one's commute to work. Then, the user changes into the clean uniform/shoes, performs his/her duties and, at the end of the work day, changes out of the used uniform/shoes, and secures the soiled uniform and shows (as the case may be) in the respective easy wash bags. The easy wash bags are then inserted into the main compartment of the inventive uniform bag, to segregate the possibly infectious uniform/shows until they can be safely washed/sanitized.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the description of embodiments that follows, with reference to the attached figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 presents a front perspective view of the inventive uniform bag proximate three (3) easy wash clothing bags and one (1) easy wash shoe bag;

FIG. 2 presents an exploded view of the parts which together form inventive uniform bag embodiment of FIG. 1, highlighting a large exterior pocket, closing cord, zipper, name tag and grommets;

FIG. 3 depicts exploded view of the parts that form one easy wash clothing bag, highlighting its zipper, name tag and hanging loop; and

FIG. 4 depicts an exploded view of the parts that form one easy wash shoe bag, highlighting its zipper, name tag and hanging loop.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following is a detailed description of example embodiments of the invention depicted in the accompanying drawings. The example embodiments are presented in such detail as to clearly communicate the invention and are designed to make such embodiments obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

FIG. 1 presents an exemplary embodiment of the inventive uniform bag 100 adapted to keep sterile clothes and street clothes separate from soiled clothing and/or uniforms, and to minimize contact by the user with the soiled clothing, uniforms and/or shoes secured therein. Soiled clothing, uniforms and/or shoes, as used herein, refers to clothing, or uniforms, such as school or work/uniforms, including shoes, that are soiled and that could be contaminated with pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. Pathogens could infect persons in contact with the contaminated uniform(s) and/or shoes with an infectious disease, such as MRSA and Covid-19.

The uniform bag 100 has a main body 102, formed from two parts of sheet-like cloth material 102 a, 102 b (see FIG. 2). Part 102 a of the main compartment 102 is the front in the embodiment shown, where part 102 b is the back of the main compartment 102. The uniform bag 100 includes at least one, separate zippered pouch or compartment 103. FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the parts to form the inventive main body 100, where 102 a and 102 b are attached together as front and back. In an embodiment, the zippered pouch or compartment 103 is formed by attaching a sheet of material 103 a to the main body 102, preferably on the front part 102 a thereof. The sheet of material 103 a comprising zippered pouch or compartment 103 is not attached to the body along the top edge, where a zipper is positioned, as shown. The zippered pouch or compartment 103 is opened and closed using zipper 105.

Also, a cord or cords 104 is/are included for easy carrying of the uniform bag 100. The cord 104 passes through grommets 107, which are supported by grommets supports 106, in any of the sheet of materials 102 a, 102 b, 103 a, as shown. Preferably, the cord or cords 104 passes through a channel formed at the upper edge of sheet material 102 a of the main body 102. A label or tag 108 preferably is arranged on the front of the main body, also preferably on an outer surface of sheet of material 102 a. Zipper 105 allows for opening and closing access to the volume provided by zippered pouch and/or compartment 103, formed with sheet of material 103 a. The zippered pouch or compartment 103 may be used for extra storage i.e., toiletries, jewelry, keys etc.

Preferably, the inventive uniform bag 100 includes and cooperates with a number of “easy wash” clothing bags 152 w (three (3) as shown in FIG. 1), and at least one an “easy wash” shoe bag 152 g. Preferably, the easy wash clothing bags 152 w are white and the easy wash shoe bags arc grey. So, in addition to an option of washing soiled clothing in main body 102, soiled clothing may be separated and placed in the individual easy wash clothing bags and shoes placed in easy wash shoe bag(s), and said bags then inserted into the main body 102.

The multiple separate easy wash bags and compartments are advantageous to the inventive uniform bag because they allow a user to stow soiled clothes and/or uniforms and/or shoes, separately, not only to prevent communication of pathogens therein to the person handling the uniform bag, but also to prevent cross-contamination between the soiled clothing and/or shoes, and other stored items that may not be infectious. And obviously, the main compartment of the main bag 102, and the easy wash clothing and shoe bags inherently provide for organizing one's things.

A name tag or label 108 is attached to the main body 102, a name tags 155 w are attached to each of the “easy wash” clothing bags 152 w and “easy wash” shoe bag 152 g. FIG. 3 shows easy wash clothing bags 152 w including a label 155 w, a zipper 154 w, front and back sheets 152 wa and 152 wb and loop 153 w. FIG. 4 shows easy wash shoe bag 152 g including a label 155 g, a zipper 154 g, front and back sheets 152 ga and 152 gb (which together form the compartment), and a loop 153 w. The loop is for hanging and storing the bags, such as in a locker when the user arrives at work or school.

The uniform bag 100 is a complete unit with draw cord 104, and easy wash clothing and shoe bags. Preferably, the dimensions of the main body is 17 inches by 20 inches; the depth from front to back depends on what is carried, that is, when the bag is empty, its thickness is the aggregate thickness of the sheet material until something is inserted therein. As explained above, the main body 102 has a front part 102 a and a back part 102 b. Preferably, the zippered pouch or compartment 103 attached or provided on the main body 102 (sheet material 102 a, 102 b) is 17 inches by 10 inches, as shown; the cord 104 is about 72 inches and has a diameter of about 0.35 inches, but the invention is not limited thereto. Zipper 105 preferably is 16 inches, where the name tags preferably are 2.5×4 inches. The bags 150 comprise easy wash zippered clothing bags 152 w and zippered show bags 152 g, which preferably are polyester, respectively white and grey and preferably 13×17 inches. The easy wash bag zippers are about 16 inches and white or grey.

The uniform bag 100 is formed from a material that is porous to allow for water to pass through during washing, but preferably, also a barrier to airborne pathogens. The material need not be impervious to pathogens, but preferably should be of a nature that would not allow pathogens to pass through by merely handling the inventive bag. Otherwise, the pathogens might otherwise pass through the material sheets 102 a, 102 b, from a soiled uniform that was previously contaminated before being placed in an easy wash clothing bag, or contaminated shoes placed in an easy wash shoe bag, and infect a person handling the bag. Polyester is the preferred material for this purpose, which may be washed at 60 degrees Celsius. 60 degrees Celsius is the recommended temperature to kill harmful bacteria and/or viruses.

The inventive uniform bag allows anyone to stow their uniforms in the easy wash bags on the way in to school or work, such as a healthcare professional in a hospital or other institutional setting, and know that the uniform will be clean and pathogen free when they arrive at their intended destination and change into the uniform. Perhaps more importantly, when the user wears his/her uniform, and the uniform is exposed to pathogens, the user may remove the soiled uniform and place it into an easy wash bag, zip it up, and carry it home in the inventive uniform bag with the knowledge that any pathogens that might be on the soiled uniform will be maintained in the bag as the bag and uniform are washed, minimizing risk of infection.

During intended operation, a user simply places his/her clean clothes into clean easy wash bag(s) 152 w, and work shoes (as the case may be) into the easy wash shoe bag 152 g, then inserts the easy wash bags into the main compartment or body 102. In this way, the inventive uniform bag keeps your uniform (e.g., scrubs) and/or shoes together but separate and free of contamination on one's commute to work. Then, the user changes into the clean uniform and/or, performs his/her duties and, at the end of the work day, changes out of the used uniform and/or shoes and secures the soiled uniform and/or shoes in the inventive “easy wash” clothes and shoe bags. In this way, the used uniform and/or shoes can be transported (e.g., to home) safely and prevented from contaminating other personal items in the uniform bag. Upon arriving home, for example, these wash bags containing soiled uniforms removed from the main body and be safely stored with household laundry. Once the user has gathered a sufficient wash load, they simply remove the soiled uniforms/scrubs from their individual “easy wash” bags and place inside the washing machine along with the “easy wash” bags and launder at the desired temperature 60 degrees Celsius. Thus, both the uniform/scrubs and/or shoes and easy wash bags are once again sterile and can once again begin the cycle of keeping the uniform free form contamination on its commute to work. Please note that the easy wash bags with soiled clothing and/or shoes also may be maintained in the main body, and the main bag washed thereby washing the content of the easy wash bags.

As will be evident to persons skilled in the art, the foregoing detailed description, applications and figures are presented as examples of the invention, and that variations are contemplated that do not depart from the fair scope of the teachings and descriptions set forth in this disclosure. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A uniform bag, comprising: a main compartment or body formed as an enclosable pouch from a first material that includes an inner and an outer surface; at least one, zippered compartment, separate from the main compartment and that is accessible from the outer surface; at least one easy wash clothing bag for receiving, enclosing and storing clothing, which may be soiled and/or contaminated by a pathogen, for segregating, transporting clothing, and for washing clothing that is soiled therein; and at least one easy wash shoe bag for receiving, enclosing and storing shoes, for segregating and transporting the shoes, which may be soiled and/or contaminated by a pathogen; wherein the easy wash bags are inserted into and/or removable from the main compartment or body.
 2. The uniform bag of claim 1, including three (3) easy wash clothing bags.
 3. The uniform bag of claim 1, further comprising of (1) pocket on a front of the main compartment or body for extra storage.
 4. The uniform bag of claim 1, further comprising a name tag for easy identification on outer surface of main compartment.
 5. The uniform bag of claim 1, wherein the easy wash bags include a loop for easy hanging.
 6. The uniform bag of claim 1, wherein the easy wash bags include a name tag for easy identification on an outer surface of main compartment.
 7. The uniform bag of claim 1, further comprising a cord is threaded through the main compartment.
 8. The uniform bag of claim 7, wherein the cord is threaded through a channel provided for same, at a top edge of the main compartment, and tied in a knot at the ends.
 9. The uniform bag of claim 1, further comprising grommet supports sewn at various elements, and grommets pressed through all layers of material and supported by the grommet supports.
 10. A method of safely storing, transporting, storing and washing uniforms and shoes, for use in settings where pathogen contamination is likely, in reliance upon a uniform bag with a main compartment formed as an enclosable pouch from a front and a back material sheet, at least one zippered compartment, formed on a portion of an outer surface of a front material sheet of the main compartment, separate from the main compartment and accessible from the outer surface, at least one easy wash clothing bag for receiving, enclosing and holding the uniform and at least one easy wash shoe bag for receiving and holding shoes, the method including acts of: if any, inserting a clean uniform in the at least one easy wash clothing bag, and placing the easy wash clothing bag with the clean uniform inside the main compartment; if any, placing work shoes in the at least one easy wash shoe bag, and placing the easy wash shoe bag uniform inside the main compartment; transporting the uniform bag to a location at which the uniform is to be worn; removing the clean uniform and work shoes from the respective easy wash bags; donning the uniform and/or shoes, and performing tasks during which the uniform and/or shoes may be exposed to pathogens; removing and storing the possibly pathogen-exposed uniform and/or shoes in an easy wash clothing and/or easy wash shoe bag; placing the easy wash clothing and/or shoe bags into the main compartment of the uniform bag and transporting the uniform bag to a place where the uniform and/or shoes may be washed; and washing the possibly pathogen-exposed uniform and/or shoes in the easy wash clothing and/or shoe bags.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of washing includes removing the easy wash clothing and/or shoe bags and washing.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of washing includes removing the contents of the easy wash clothing and/or shoe bags and washing.
 13. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of washing includes washing the uniform bag with the attached easy wash shoe bag containing the possibly exposed shoes.
 14. The method of claim 10, wherein the easy wash clothing bags, easy wash shoe bags and main compartment are made of a material that allows water and detergent to pass through.
 15. The method of claims 14, wherein the material is polyester.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the polyester is washed in hot water at 60 Centigrade degrees to kill pathogens. 